Lifeguard Practice
by yugifrozenfan
Summary: Lifeguard!AU To get out of attending summer remedial classes, Anna enrolls in a summer camp design to train and certify lifeguards. Here, she meets Elsa, a very shy girl and tries to develop a friendship with her in the midst of their training (1-3)


**AN: I'm back with a new three-shot Frozen Summer Fun series. Similar to my "Engagement" one-shots, this will be three connected one-shots detailing Anna & Elsa's meeting and developing friendship when Anna takes a summer job as a lifeguard. I'm aware that there's another Lifeguard!Elsa story called The Lifeguard but this one, I can assure you, will be radically different from that (ie: for one, Anna is also a lifeguard, whereas in the first one she was just a swimmer trying to get noticed by Elsa). Hopefully, you guys will enjoy it.**

At Arendelle High School, you could tell that it was the last day of school as students were rushing through the day. While some would be attending summer school for remedial instruction, Arendelle High was also partipicating in the Lifeguard program as they always did and towards the end of every school year, they collected the signatures of students who were interested in partipicating. Anna was the only one who didn't sign right away as she was on the list for summer school due to a difficient credit and wanted to find a way to do both. The problem with that plan was that one needed to be given utmost attention because in Anna's house, you didn't lounge around, you either went to summer school or got a job and if you failed at getting a job, you went to summer school regardless. It was a two-way street and Anna would have a LOT of trouble convincing her mother otherwise.

Sure enough, her mother needed a LOT of convincing that it was a job and not just an excuse to slack off but Anna's lack of a credit was something that needed to be taken care of and her mother was more concerned about that. Thinking there was a light at the end of this tunnel, Anna looked at the permission form again and sure enough, there WAS a light at the end of the tunnel: the form stated that all lifeguards are to receive educational instruction as well in the subjects that they would normally be sent to Summer School for. Next stop was now convincing her mother.

"Anna, that credit could prevent you from graduating", her mother argued.

"Mom, the form states that all lifeguards will receive educational instruction as well", Anna argued back, placing the form down and tipping it forward to her mother. Her mom picked it up, read it and it turned out that Anna was right. All junior lifeguards are required to receive at least 2 hours of educational instruction before starting their shifts. Luckily, it was enough to convince her mother, who signed the form permitting Anna to enter the Arendelle Lifeguard Summer Camp.

Luckily, some other students who Anna knew from school were also taking part in the program as well if anything to avoid the summer remedial classes. Her friend Kristoff, who had done the program numerous times prior, was taking part as well, this time as an instructor and her ex-boyfriend Hans was also partipicating as well, and sadly enough, Anna was well-aware he was doing it just because of the added bonus of seeing hot girls in bikinis. Also, other schools would be lending their students for the program as well. When the bus pulled up to the camp, Kristoff got out first and joined the other instructors to receive their group rosters and receive a crash course on teaching the groups. Like most summer camps, the groups would be intermingled together however, Kristoff's group was the least intermingled as he only had one student from another school, with Anna and a couple others as the staff felt he would be more confortable with people he was around with. He escorted his group to their cabin so they could get settled in and so he could explain the lowdown of how the camp worked. Of everyone else, only one didn't actually seem interested at even being there for one thing. Anna looked in her direction and noticed the girl was curled into herself. Kristoff took notice and directed Anna to look at him because he wasn't finished.

"Kristoff, you've been rambling on for about almost a minute now", Anna protested.

"Well, I guess you guys got the general jist of how the camp works. Dinner's at 5:30", he said and essentially left the students to their own devices until that time. Anna approached the blonde.

"Hey", she said, hoping to strike up a conversation. The blonde didn't acknowledge her at all and just curled deeper. "Do you go to our school?" she tried again. The blonde nodded and Anna, pleased with herself, tried again. "I've seen you around before and I think we share some classes together at school but I don't think we've been formally introduced", she stated. The blonde suddenly moved AWAY from Anna.

"Please, just stay away from me", she said before getting up to go to another part of the cabin, leaving Anna puzzled, wondering what she did wrong. All she wanted was to try and make friends with this elusive blonde. It was true that although they went to the same school and had some classes together, they really didn't know each other personally. The blonde's behavior told Anna that she liked to keep to herself, even though it wasn't good for her. Anna wondered what made the blonde so closed-off so she decided to get the story from Kristoff later on. At dinnertime, the blonde sat at a seperate table from Anna and Kristoff. Luckily, this was a perfect break for Anna as she didn't think the blonde would like discussing her personal life with her or Kristoff.

"So, what's the blonde's name?" Anna asked through some broccoli.

"Oh, that's Elsa. She's a cheerleader", Kristoff remarked.

"Well, I tried to struck up a conversation with her and when I tried to introduce myself, she froze up and moved to another part of the cabin", Anna remarked, sounding dejected in the process.

"It's nothing you did. She's just really shy. Just give her some time", Kristoff remarked. Anna took note of that and decided not to push Elsa so much the next time she struck up a conversation with her. She also noted she did come off as a little too strong in their first attempt at a conversation and decided that she wouldn't try to push Elsa next time. Next day was crunch time as the junior lifeguards had completed the schooling for regular education which allowed Anna to make up the difficient credit that would have placed her in summer school had she not convinced her mom to opt for summer camp. Lesson one was how to conduct themselves if someone was too far into the water.

"Generally, that's what a lifeguard's for. They are there to make sure no one gets hurt in the water", Kristoff and the other student instructor were talking almost at once, leaving Anna to wonder exactly why they were booked with the other group to begin with but again, it was the coordinator who made the final call. "If one of us is too far out, what would you do?" they asked. Anna raised her hand.

"Yes, Anna?" Kristoff asked.

"Blow your whistle and say 'Too far out?'" she guessed.

"Yep. Now, it's demostration time!" Kristoff's group had Elsa as lifeguard and Anna as the swimmer. Anna got out as far as they would allow her to go as Elsa got onto the stand. She lollygagged in the water for a couple seconds until she heard the whistle.

"Too far out!" Elsa yelled into the megaphone. Anna was in heaven as Elsa's voice sounded like a choir of angels. Kristoff then had them switch so Anna was on the stand and Elsa in the water and it mostly went well, except Anna blew the whistle first and waited a couple seconds to get the megaphone.

"You're supposed to have the megaphone on hand when you blow the whistle, Anna", Kristoff stated, although he wasn't annoyed. He'd known Anna for a long time and thus knew her quirks and all that. The instructors went through eveyone else and Anna and Elsa had to do the final exercise again because Anna screwed it up. This time, Anna remembered to have the megaphone on hand when she blew the whistle. It was a success this time around.

During free time, surprisingly, Anna was approached by Elsa in the cabin after the excerise. Seeing how aloof she came off, Anna decided to not approach the blonde at all, having got a chilly reception the first time.

"Hi", she said.

"Hi, me?" Anna replied.

"Yes, you", Elsa stated.

"Oh, okay. I was hoping we could introduce ourselves properly. You moved away before I could introduce myself", Anna said.

"Sorry about that, it's just my nature. My name is Elsa", she said and held out her hand.

"Anna", she replied back and took Elsa's hand, shaking it. The group time was brief as Kristoff had other news for the group. Towards out after the camp, he had said, they get a chance to try out their newly acquired skills in a public beach setting. Kristoff, as it turns out, was as excited as his group because he never got that chance whenever he did the program prior. Meanwhile, the two girls were chatting and discovered they had some things in common, like liking chocolate for instance. Next day was lesson 2, how to handle a rescue situation. Luckily, Kristoff's group had the beach booked for the morning shift so they could work until lunchtime if need be. Every lifeguard needed to be on guard because a situation would arise where someone needs to be rescued, however, each rescue execution needed to be tailored depending on whether or not the victim was a distressed swimmer or someone who was drowning. Obivously, Kristoff wasn't going to endanger his class for the sake of the demo so this time, they opted for the more safer route. Using dummies, Kristoff would call out the type of situation the dummy was in and the group would have to use the right techinque and tools in a Simon Says type way. Most of the group passed the excerise lickedy-split but Kristoff would switch it up a bit. He would give one person a Distressed Swimmer situation which was easier or a Drowning scenario, which required a lot more work to be had. When he got to Anna and Elsa, he gave Elsa Distressed Swimmer but Anna had to get the Drowning one, almost as if he was testing her to see if she could work under pressure and to his surprise, Anna actually pulled it off pretty well with almost NO screw-ups in the execution. After the exercise before lunchtime, Kristoff discussed the importance of judgment because the lifeguard himself could easily get hurt preforming these rescues which is why when they do the trials on the beach, each one will be assigned a back-up in case of an injury. He also explained that the lifeguard also has to judge the situation before rushing in because a lifeguard could assume it's a distressed swimmer when, in fact, it could be a drowner. He said next lesson would be to distinguish which situation would require lifeguard assisstance and, if any, medicial techinques to be preformed.

Meanwhile, Anna and Elsa had developed quite a bond, from shared interests to just anything in general and when dinnertime came, she actually sat with Anna and Kristoff this time around, being more confortable around them than anyone else. Next day before they had the beach, Anna decided to get into Elsa's head a little bit and question her about her shyness.

"Elsa? Why are you so shy?" she inquired at breakfast.

"It's more like I'm ashamed", she admitted.

"Of what?"

"Enough, Anna. Not in the mess hall". And with that, the conversation was dropped. Next lesson was distinguishing the type of situations lifeguard assisstence was needed. A Distressed Swimmer was someone who was essentially tired and who may or may not be calling out for help and depending on the type of situation, may or may not require additional assisstance. As Kristoff explained to his group, if he's not calling for help, wait until someone notices and prompts the guard to help him to the side and or to the beach if he's close enough but if he's calling, act quickly and get him to safety.

"However", he said. "It's the Drowners that require more help". He explained the two catorgories the Drowner one comes in: Passive & Active. If he's passive, he's not doing anything and submerged. Either way, the response is the same, get him to safety. If he's active, he's taking on water while trying to stay afloat and he maybe at least 20-60 seconds from going under. The key for the active ones is moving arms to keep heads up. To reinforce this, he gave his group pamphlets for them to study and learn the signs to look for in rescue situations and assisstance as well as the proper techinques for the medicial procedures. The next lesson was for medicial proedures required depending on the type of situation needed. If it's a Distressed Swimmer, again, he's just tired, fatigued and maybe dehydrated so give him some H2O before sending him on his way. The Drowners, on the other hand, require more assisstance and that's where CPR is required. Kristoff again set up a dummy of a swimmer who was an Active Drowner and lost conciousness, thus becoming a Passive Drowner and the exercise was to preform CPR to revive him. Again, everyone passed. Kristoff explained that all lifeguards have to keep an active patrol on the beach and a sharp eye out for any of the things they discussed over their time at the camp. "However", he stated. "There was a pop test on the things we've covered. Pass it and you get your certification". Anna was surprised. She would become a licensed lifeguard.

Back at the cabin, Anna poured herself into the pamphlet, studying the stuff she thought would be on the test. After studying, she decided to ask Elsa what it was she was ashamed about. Elsa blushed when Anna asked if it was a crush on someone but Elsa merely shook her head.

"My parents and I aren't on speaking terms. I'm living with my aunt and uncle because I came out to my parents about a month ago. My parents couldn't or wouldn't accept my problem because they were the average church-going folk", Elsa admitted. Anna immediately felt empathy with Elsa's plight, having came out to her mother before her sophmore year of high school. While her mother didn't accept it at first, she later did which was a good thing on Anna's end.

The test was on the final day of camp. Anna answered every test question to the best of her ability, as did Elsa and the rest of the groups. When the test was finished, Kristoff and the other student instructors informed them the test results will be given at about dinnertime if not earlier so they had a few hours to mingle. However, the results of the test came back much quicker and it turned out, almost everyone, including both Anna and Elsa passed it and became certified lifeguards. The proctor had said that he had never seen results like that group before in his life and credited the group leaders for the reason. However, the real work would begin as they now have to work with real lifeguards for further training but for Anna and Elsa, they know, that this would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

 **AN: That's it for Episode 1! Episode 2 is where Anna and Elsa put their training to the test and also, a revelation from Hans will put Anna and Elsa's developing friendship to the test. It's all coming up! Also, the closing line is a reference to Casablanca, one of my favorite films. So, R &R!**


End file.
